


Message Received

by literati42



Category: Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: 200 word dabble, Bittersweet, Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, I need more of these stories, Kid Tim, fatherly Bruce
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 12:45:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11760177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literati42/pseuds/literati42
Summary: 200 word dabble: Bruce still fears he could lose this new Robin as easily as the last.





	Message Received

            Eleven-year-old Tim woke suddenly. He was out of bed in a flash and went to the window, moving silently in his sock covered feet. He frowned and opened the window. “Batman?” the young boy asked, he stepped back to allow his mentor in. It was nearly 4 in the morning, and he had just been on patrol with his mentor a few hours before. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” Bruce said. Tim tilted his head to the side.

            “What do you…”

            “I wanted to make sure you were…” Bruce shook his head. “Go back to sleep.” The Batman as gone with the same suddenness that frustrated commissioner Gordon. Tim was young, but he did not need to ask what words his mentor omitted. He was there to make sure Tim was alive, because the shadow of death hung over the tights. Because Bruce would never forgive himself. Because Robin was finite. Death would come, at some point, and at eleven years old, Tim already knew this in his bones.

            That was how the tradition began. Each night Tim was not on patrol, he sent a simple message over the secure com. “Alive.” Just one word, but it said enough.


End file.
